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But behind the hair, teeth and offbeat humour dwelt a mass of contradictions and insecurities.

His carefully guarded private life received an unwelcome airing in 1989 when he endured a five-week trial accused of tax fraud.

The trial transformed Liverpool Crown Court into a sell-out theatre, with fellow comics Eric Sykes and Roy Hudd called as character witnesses.

Having clocked up 35 years in showbusiness, Dodd told the court: "Since I am stripped naked in this court, I might as well tell you the lot."

He said: "I am not mean, but I am nervous of money, nervous of having it, nervous of not having it," and described money as a yardstick of success - "important only because I have nothing else".

His counsel described him as a fantasist stamped with lifelong eccentricities - such as keeping love letters in a safety deposit box and hoarding £336,000 in the attic - due to a close-knit family upbringing.

The entertainer was acquitted following a brilliant defence by George Carman QC. He would later joke publicly about the case.

Sir Ken left school at 14 and worked with his brother Bill, heaving Arley cobbles and Houlton kitchen nuts for six years as part of his father's business.

But in his spare time, the former choirboy was singing and developing a stand-up comic routine at working men's clubs. He would describe himself as "Professor Yaffle Chuckabutty. Operatic Tenor and Sausage Knotter".

The Theatre Royal, Nottingham, saw his debut in 1954 as Professor Chuckabutty, and within two years he was topping the bill at Blackpool, with bits such as the famous Diddy Men, the Broken Biscuit Repair Works, the Jam Butty Mines, the Moggy Ranch and the Treacle Wells.

This was followed by numerous BBC series, including The Ken Dodd Show and Ken Dodd's Laughter Show, and he entered the big time in 1965 with the longest-ever run at the London Palladium (42 weeks).

During the 1960s, he entered the Guinness Book of Records for the longest joke-telling session ever - 1,500 jokes in three-and-a-half hours.

He was awarded an OBE in 1982 and was dubbed a knight by the Duke of Cambridge in 2017 - the year of his 90th birthday.

He spent more than six weeks in the Liverpool Heart and Chest Hospital earlier this year, following a chest infection, leaving at the end of February.

Fellow Liverpudlian Claire Sweeney described Dodd as a "legend and an inspiration".

Actor John Challis, who played Boycie in comedy television series Only Fools And Horses, tweeted: "So sorry to hear we have lost Ken Dodd. I met him once and I've never forgotten it. Gawd bless 'im."

Comedian Dara O Briain tweeted: "So happy I got to meet him once, and more importantly, saw him do one of his incredible 5 hour shows. He was an education to watch and, afterwards, at 1.30 am, he had beers with me in the dressing room and talked showbiz. A privilege, and a loss. RIP."